In Star Trek: Picard season 2, Patrick Stewart returns as Jean-Luc Picard, who is plunged into a new adventure involving time travel and an alternate reality of a fascist Federation. Star Trek: Picard season 2 also features the return of Star Trek: The Next Generation fan favorites Q (John de Lancie), Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), and the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching).
Screen Rant interviewed Patrick Stewart about how Star Trek: Picard season 2's theme of "the road not taken," how Q is different from his appearances on TNG, and why the immortal being continually torments Jean-Luc Picard.
Screen Rant: Picard season 2 is themed around “the road not taken.” Why is it important for Jean-Luc to explore the road not taken at this stage in his life?
Patrick Stewart: Because he's still alive and his life is continuing. And he sees that he has been, in a sense, hiding from certain aspects of his nature, his personality, his ambitions, [and] his wants. And he's now trying to make adjustments to them.
We think of Jean-Luc as someone who is always helpful to people. But now, there are other elements of that helpfulness. Caring, perhaps even loving, and taking responsibility in ways that he hasn't quite before.
I’ve always wondered: What is it about Picard that Q keeps coming back to torment him. Hasn’t an immortal being got anything better to do?
Patrick Stewart: I've always felt that the reason for [Q tormenting Picard] is that Q recognizes something of himself in Jean-Luc. He admired that something else. So now, as you will see in season 2, there are changes in Q's nature. He's not the Q that we knew from the days of "Encounter at Farpoint."
Looking back, what has Star Trek meant to you?
Patrick Stewart: Well, I'm not looking back. On Monday morning, my alarm clock will go off at half-past four, and I will get ready to travel to the soundstages where we're filming, and I will be Jean-Luc Picard one more time. We're very proud of season 2. I think it's got a lot to say for itself.
Star Trek: Picard premieres Thursday, March 3, on Paramount+.